"We just heard that they finished the project and 22 units sold in less than a year," Lobaito said.

He said the village is working to carve out an agreement with Lake Ridge, a townhome development of about 50 units on Route 45 and Hickory Street.

"We expect the board will take action on that in 30 days," he said. A new developer took over the project, he said.

In addition, a second building for Cardinal Square apartments, across the railroad tracks from the newly completed village hall, is being constructed.

The village worked with developers offering incentives to get the housing units built.

"These certainly are signals that the economy is approving," Lobaito said. "Often times, it's the residential that comes back first and commercial follows shortly after that. Commercial is coming back very slowly, but we are starting to see signs of it".

Luke's Chicago Style Sandwiches, relocated to a larger spot, the old KFC location, at 551 N. Lake Street, with an outdoor patio.

"It's very busy," Lobaito said.

Just down the street, a new restaurant, Maya's, recently opened, offering Mexican and American food, at 506 N. Lake Street.

It's been her father Miguel Diaz's dream to open a restaurant, said Guadalupe Diaz, who works at the restaurant with other family members.

Miguel Diaz has worked in Cook and Lake counties for 20 years as a chef, she said.

He chose Mundelein for the location because "it's calm. People are nice and there's diversity in the community," Guadalupe Diaz said.

Assistant manager Juve Castrejon said the family scouted out restaurants in Mundelein and couldn't find a place where breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served, so they decided their restaurant could fill that niche.

"We serve from really American food to hard-core Mexican food," he said. One of the specialties is apple taffy French toast. "People love it."

"We do speed and agility camps for kids," said Brian Zinkel, one of three owners.

Zinkel, of Wauconda, along with Trevor Warnke and Nathan Johns on Vernon Hills bought the franchise.

"There's a need for fitness everywhere," said Zinkel, who said he has a master's degree in sports fitness.

"There's a good-sized population in the Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Mundelein area. There are 30,000 people in Mundelein. It was a good fit for us," he said, adding the rent was reasonable.

As for the open spot at Dominick's, the village continues to work with the owner of the shopping center, Lobaito said.

"When Dominick's left Chicagoland, it created a lot of uncertainty in the grocery market," he said.

The village continues to look for a grocery store, rather than considering subdividing to create other businesses.

"Target (a few miles away on Route 60) has a good variety, but a store that is devoted strictly to groceries is still needed. There's demand from our residents in that area (near the old Dominick's) to try and find a new grocery store," Lobaito said.

The village will likely provide an incentive for a grocer to move to that spot, he said.

Redeveloping the Oak Creek Plaza Shopping Center on Route 60 near the former Menard's is also in the works, he said.

"There are some last-minute contract issues we're working on with the owner, but we fully expect the project will move forward," he said. A Super Walmart is planned there.

"The village board has spent many, many years getting us to this point of setting the table so that we're ready for the next economic growth period," Lobaito said. "They've done a lot of planning, and they've done a tremendous amount of investment in the community."